TELEPROMPTER - Late Night Television

Late Night Television’s TELEPROMPTER is brimming with youthful energy and a devil may care attitude that feels like a throwback to the indie rock of the early 2000s. Directed by Will Long and Josh Montgomery, the video is appropriately dynamic, casting two members of the band as masked bandits robbing a wedding cake. It’s a largely breezy caper, giving Late Night Television an overall impression of harmless rebellion, with a detectable hint of edge. TELEPROMPTER is a very likeable track, with an infectious chorus that will worm its way into listeners’ heads.

The video for TELEPROMPTER cuts between the main narrative sequence and footage of Late Night Television in a stripped back, minimalist white room set. For lack of a better word, the ‘story’ of the video involves two members of the group driving through an American suburb, dressed in suits, and clearly on a mission with no time to lose. Once they make it to their destination, they don balaclavas, open the car boot (playfully reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino’s signature trunk shot), and rush in. They dash out and into their car with a wedding cake and balloons in hand. Speeding through the streets once more, their destination is revealed to be a Baptist church. They race up the stairs, pull on the door handle, and the video abruptly ends. Over the credits, the two of them sit on the church steps eating the wedding cake themselves. It’s a charming video that feels like a fusion of the Blues Brothers and Queens of the Stone Age.

While it’s well shot with some impressive visual flourishes, it’s hard to deny that a lot of the video is spent inside a car in bright daylight. It may have been more interesting for the wedding cake heist to have been expanded into a longer sequence, or to spend some time with these characters outside of the car. The blinding brightness of the daylight scenes, when intercut with the group performing in an all white room, can become tiresome. It would have been interesting for the video to make use of more varied lighting, perhaps shooting the band footage in a darker environment, or to use a more stylised colour grade in the outside photography. Alternatively, it may have been appropriate for the band to appear throughout the environment alongside the narrative, connecting the two á la Sum 41’s In Too Deep. Still, TELEPROMPTER does well to synchronize both the pace and the tone of the video with the music.

Onscreen flashing lyrics during the chorus (“I CAN’T EXPLAIN”) succeed in selling this track as an anthem, inviting participation with an energetic hook. The performances from the band during the footage of them playing together should also be lauded. Late Night Television appear as a confident, expressive, and unified group, visibly passionate about their music through their unrestrained movements.

TELEPROMPTER is in many ways a throwback to years past, and Late Night Television have done well in invoking the attitude of their predecessors, especially on a shoestring budget. The group successfully present themselves as likeable, with charisma and verve to boot.